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Paradox Interactive intends to go public this year

A

ashecitism

Member
update: he posted on the forums: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/update-on-recent-news.912586/

In an article today in the Swedish business news paper Dagens Industri, I was interviewed together with our Chairman of the Board Håkan Sjunnesson regarding "the state of the business". We talked about the company's excellent financial and operating performance in 2015 and discussed future strategies of the company including exploring conditions for a potential IPO in 2016. Here is a link to the article (in Swedish) http://digital.di.se/artikel/paradox-interactive-gar-till-borsen

From here on - until any further steps are taken in the process - we will communicate any corporate communication in Swedish to ensure we adhere to current laws and regulations. Communication around our games will remain the same as always. Game plans and game development will be business as usual.

We also want to clarify that the principal shareholders (like myself and long time owners Spiltan Investment) in Paradox will remain principal shareholders and that only a small part of the company is in question for any future plans.
Click to expand...

--



http://gamasutra.com/view/news/267434/Paradox_Interactive_is_planning_to_go_public_this_year.php

What's especially intriguing about the long-private company's intent to turn public is that proceeds from sales of shares in the company will presumably afford Paradox an influx of cash, something it recently spent a great deal of in order to take White Wolf Publishing off of CCP's hands.

According to a roughly-translated version of an interview with Wester published today by Swedish-language outlet Di Digital, Paradox is interested in making further acquisitions in the future and expanding deeper into mobile and console game publishing.

Gamasutra has reached out to Wester for further details on Paradox's IPO plans.
Click to expand...

Paradox Interactive is a publisher who also make games under Paradox Development Studio. Their catalogue includes:

Europa Universalis
Hearts of Iron
Crusader Kings

Magicka
Pillars of Eternity
Cities: Skyline
Mount & Blade (they handed over the license to the dev in 2014)

and as the article says they own World of Darkness and Vampire: The Masquerade since last year

edit:

CecilRousso said:
http://digital.di.se/artikel/paradox-interactive-gar-till-borsen#

Swedish article, where Fredrik Wester is saying they they're targeting "aggresive growth", more resources for console games, and to seriously enter mobile gaming.

Sounds good, right?
Click to expand...
 
5

5taquitos

Member
eba713577fedf27587fd29577222c8fe.jpg
 
S

StrategyFan

Member
surprising

i don't think highly of them as a developer (way too much stuff in their games. not enough quality), but they could do many interesting things as a larger publisher
 
Stiler

Stiler

Member
:(, here comes the shareholders and businessman to drive the brand into "Lets do what makes money."

Paradox was one of the few places that actually focused on good niche products that many of the big AAA publishers wouldn't give the them of day.

I hope they don't start shifting away from that.
 
G

Gentleman Jack

Member
Their monetization schemes would fit well in mobile, but I wonder how small a screen their games could fit on and still feel like the complex behemoths they currently produce on PC. Would they just publish other people's games on those platforms with the IPO money?
 
S

Sulik2

Member
Well this will be the death of one if the best publishers and developers in the business. No way they can maintain their focus on quality experiences with stock holder pressure.
 
L

LurkerPrime

Member
My one source of Grand Strategy games is now endangered.

This is horrible.

If I were a different sort of person, I'd be crying right now.
 
Cert.in.Death

Cert.in.Death

Member
Gentleman Jack said:
Their monetization schemes would fit well in mobile, but I wonder how small a screen their games could fit on and still feel like the complex behemoths they currently produce on PC. Would they just publish other people's games on those platforms with the IPO money?
Click to expand...

Possibly. Perhaps they have plans to break out on the publishing scene and target projects in line with their creative tastes while upping the production quality (and cost).

Or maybe they just wanna fund more of the same for more audiences/devices.
 
S

Saganator

Member
Noooo... now they're going to be chasing quarterly profits and all the bad shit that comes from doing that. Fuck.

I hope they make a lot of money and still stay Paradox. I'd be really sad if they went to shit.
 
C

CenturionKei

Banned
Saganator said:
Noooo... now they're going to be chasing quarterly profits and all the bad shit that comes from doing that. Fuck.

I hope they make a lot of money and still stay Paradox. I'd be really sad if they went to shit.
Click to expand...
Eh there already shit tier devs. There base games are usually awesome (Hearts of Iron and King Arthur) but man do there dlc crap piss me off. Charging people for extra sprites and PAGES of DLC on there steam pages.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Well this is discouraging. I'm not sure how well publishing niche games fits a public company, hopefully they don't turn hard towards mobile.
 
T

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
CenturionKei said:
Eh there already shit tier devs. There base games are usually awesome (Hearts of Iron and King Arthur) but man do there dlc crap piss me off. Charging people for extra sprites and PAGES of DLC on there steam pages.
Click to expand...

You are insane. I cant even begin to try to explain to you how much they added over the course of several years to Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 3/4 for example.
Their actual gameplay content DLCs and post launch support are easily among the best in the whole industry.

Sure, they have some cosmetic stuff too, but who cares.
 
C

CenturionKei

Banned
Toma said:
You are insane. I cant even begin to try to explain to you how much they added over the course of several years to Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 3/4 for example.

Their DLCs are easily among the best in the whole industry.
Click to expand...
...so your telling me its AMAZING to charge me for a few extra Byzantine units, banners and SOUND TRACKS in THREE seperate DLC packs?
 
S

stan423321

Member
No no no no no no no no.

No no no no no no no no no no.

I mean it doesn't necessarily have to go wrong but it has so much potential to screw everything up...
 
bati

bati

Member
CenturionKei said:
...so your telling me its AMAZING to charge me for a few extra Byzantine units, banners and SOUND TRACKS in THREE seperate DLC packs?
Click to expand...

On the other hand you get most (if not all?) features for free in each patch, you just can't play as one of the new rulers.
 
T

Toma

Let me show you through these halls, my friend, where treasures of indie gaming await...
CenturionKei said:
...so your telling me its AMAZING to charge me for a few extra Byzantine units, banners and SOUND TRACKS in THREE seperate DLC packs?
Click to expand...

I am telling you to ignore the cosmetic shit if you dont want it and pick up the SEVEN full on actual gameplay DLCs (in case of CKII). Improve the rest of the game with mods if you want, nobody keeps you from doing that. And as bati said, they even continue to support non DLC buyers with content patchers even after what now... 3 years?
 
A

Anno

Member
I wonder if this is something they're being forced into They never struck me as the type to want to try to expand massively. I'll be curious to see what amount they're putting out on the market.
 
L

LurkerPrime

Member
CenturionKei said:
...so your telling me its AMAZING to charge me for a few extra Byzantine units, banners and SOUND TRACKS in THREE seperate DLC packs?
Click to expand...

The DLCs fund future support. It's how Crusader Kings II has lived a long and prosperous, content-rich life, while Sengoku sits abandoned.

And keep in mind that not everything is locked to the DLCs; there are plenty of fixes, QoL improvements, and even new mechanics rolled into the base game. Their Grand Strategy games are already humongous to begin with, so the additions and expansions only layer even more on top.
Edit: And as Toma mentions, the cosmetic microDLCs are 100% optional and unnecessary, only there if you want them. It's the meaty expansions that add meaningful content.
StealthPandemic said:
Someone explain what going public means?
Click to expand...

Investors give you money to make them more money.

It leads to design-by-committee studios. For a niche company like Paradox, it paints a really dour picture.

emergencyedit
CecilRousso said:
http://digital.di.se/artikel/paradox-interactive-gar-till-borsen#

Swedish article, where Fredrik Wester is saying they they're targeting "aggresive growth", more resources for console games, and to seriously enter mobile gaming.

Sounds good, right?
Click to expand...
Alright now I really wish I could cry.
 
C

C0unter

Member
Toma said:
You are insane. I cant even begin to try to explain to you how much they added over the course of several years to Crusader Kings 2 and Europa Universalis 3/4 for example.
Their actual gameplay content DLCs and post launch support are easily among the best in the whole industry.

Sure, they have some cosmetic stuff too, but who cares.
Click to expand...

Yep. They have easily one of the best dlc practices. The amount of stuff that comes for free along with their major expansion is insane.
 
Karak

Karak

Member
I would love a true World of Darkness roleplaying game. Like a massive Bioware style title. Good luck to them.
 
M

Mindlog

Member
And now that dream is gone from me.

I hope it works out. I want the best for every publisher out there, but Paradox is part of that special precious few...

Good luck.
 
C

CenturionKei

Banned
Toma said:
I am telling you to ignore the cosmetic shit if you dont want it and pick up the SEVEN full on actual gameplay DLCs (in case of CKII). Improve the rest of the game with mods if you want, nobody keeps you from doing that. And as bati said, they even continue to support non DLC buyers with content patchers even after what now... 3 years?
Click to expand...
The thing is THERES TONS of comsetic shit. Its like a proto-micro transactions.

It isnt just Crusader Kings. Most of there games have this DLC policy.

HELL theres DLC for there DLC. Also they ripped out the admidley awesome prologue campaign of King Arthur II and made it a pre order bonus for gods sake!!!
 
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